


Broadway Bound - 2019 Christmas Advent

by Totallyawesomeharry



Category: Glee
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Broadway, Cast Party, Developing Relationship, Drabble, First Meeting, Fluff, Karaoke, Klaine Advent Drabble Challenge, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Oblivious Blaine Anderson, Puppies, Shows, Slow Burn, banta, characters approx 28 years old ish, inter-related drabbles, mentions of drinking, niff and blaine friendship, relationship, understudy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 19,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21651910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Totallyawesomeharry/pseuds/Totallyawesomeharry
Summary: Blaine is 29 years old, living in new york, and is a well known screen (big and small) and stage actor. And now it's time for his next big broadway role.And who else is the head of the shows costume department apart from our one and only Kurt?(Kurt never went to dalton and therefore never met Blaine. Klaine endgame)Tags will be updated as new things arise in each chapter.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Nick Duval/Jeff Sterling
Comments: 67
Kudos: 70
Collections: Klaine Advent 2019





	1. Achievement

**Author's Note:**

> Because so far i am yet to complete a advent/challenge, so why not start a new one? lets see how far i get with this one.  
> Chapter a day from the Klaine advent 2019 prompts. This is one story, with a drabble length chapter for each prompt. no plan in advance so who knows what is going to happen (hence why tags will be added as i go along). hopefully chronological so might be some time jumps that are a bit unnatural for a normal multi-chapter story depending on the prompts

"I've got good news for you, Blaine," his agent says on the other end of the telephone.

"Ooh, I'm listening," Blaine replies, stopping at the top of the subway stairs so he doesn't lose signal.

"You know that show you wanted me to try and get you an audition for that show…" his agent pauses.

"Yes," Blaine almost shouts, full with anticipation as it becomes clear his agent isn't going to continue.

"Get out the way!" A busy commuter shouts as she pushes past Blaine on the way up from the subway.

Blaine sends the woman a look, but moves closer to the rail anyway.

"Well I got in contact with them-"

"And they want an audition tape!!!" He interrupts, unable to cope with the suspense much longer. If his agent hadn’t done so well getting him roles in the past, he probably would have found someone else quite quickly. But despite not being an ‘agent-of-the-stars’ when Blaine first went to him, he has done well making a star out of Blaine over the last eight years.

"Whoa, slow down there buddy." Blaine's heart sinks to his stomach. He really wanted the role of Dr Pomatter in the Broadway production of Waitress. And when he found out who was the head of the costume department it just sealed his determination to get a role in the show.

"Oh, okay," he tries - and fails - to hide his disappointment.

"It's even better than that! I've already sent your audition tapes and they want you to come in for a chemistry read. Not even an audition! They want to cast you so long as you read well with one - although ideally more - of the potential Jenna’s.”

"Oh my god! You can't be serious! Are you pulling my leg? You must be joking!" Blaine exclaims excitedly, ignoring the looks of passer-bys.

"Nope," he says, popping the 'p'. "They said they want you, based on your past performances. It's quite and achievement if you ask me. So, are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

"I am now," he replies, making a mental note to cancel his brunch plans with Nick and Jeff. They will completely understand the importance of an audition verses third wheeling; Jeff currently the dance Captain for Dear Evan Hanson and Nick playing Rocky in an off-broadway production of the Rocky Horror Show.

"No, now you're not. I'm emailing the casting director this… sec...ond… and… it's.. now… been… sent!"

"Excellent, thank you so much!"

"You are very welcome. Now go break a leg!"

And Blaine does. He receives a phone call only an hour after he leaves the audition, offering him the principal male role. 


	2. Beer

Blaine is a bundle of nervous energy this morning. 

He woke up two hours before his alarm, and was only able to distract himself on his phone for ten minutes of that.

So this morning he had made himself a large cooked breakfast, ate two bites and had to put the rest in the fridge to come pick at later. 

He showered and styled his hair. Then restyled. Then restyled it again. Then decided there was too much gel in it so showered once again to start over. 

He got dressed twice, unable to decide what outfit he liked most.

He then even moved on to cleaning his apartment, hoovering and dusting the two bedroom house despite it having been done yesterday by his cleaner as well. 

And then, finally, it was time to head out to the studio for his first day of rehearsals in waitress. 

Like often happens in the first rehearsal, Blaine's initial nervous excitement is soon overtaken by the boredom of a first table read. They first have all the paperwork to go through, as unlike Blaine, many of the other actors agents have forgotten to send through some bit of vital information. Then the director runs through the whole synopsis of the story, briefly explaining the development of each character.

Eventually they get round to starting the table read, where they get given a more in depth description of what happens in each scene, both character and stage wise. 

Despite skipping over the songs for now, the read still takes longer than the run of the show, and without having done any 'full-on' acting, they come to the end of their first rehearsal.

"Hey, poodle," the actress playing the next Becky directs at him.

"What? Me? Umm, hi," Blaine can't remember the Latina's name, even though they were all introduced at the beginning. A few times throughout the read through people seemed to have referred to her as Satan, but Blaine isn't sure if that's a real nickname or some inside joke the woman isn't meant to know about. "You coming this evening?"

"Coming where?"

"Cast handover party, of course! It's a tradition at this theatre!"

"Oh, sounds cool… umm, what is it?"

"The current cast, along with some of the stage crew, get together with the new cast and go out for drinks, to get to know each other away from work. You down?"

"Um, sure. Where do we go?" 

"No idea yet, they haven't decided. But give me your number and as soon as my friends decide I'll let you know. It will likely be some karaoke bar no one has ever heard of if Rachel has any say in the matter." She takes Blaine's phone, keying in her number. 

"Rachel as in Rachel Berry? The actress playing Dawn?"

"The one and only," the woman sighs with a role of her eyes, attention still on the two phones as she uses Blaine's to ring her own. "And just because she is the only member of the principal cast not leaving doesn't mean you can let her get away with pushing you around." She holds Blaine's phone out to him with a flourish.

"Noted. So, how do you know Rachel?" Blaine asks, taking back his phone and starting to pack his script and drink into his bag.

"Went to school with her. God she is annoying, but unfortunately she's talented, so there is no denying that it's comforting acting along side her, even if I will be trying my hardest to avoid her off stage."

"I'm so jealous! You went to school with Rachel Berry!"

"Oh god, I picked the wrong person to try and befriend. How do I always manage to find the Rachel Berry fans!" She says exasperated, mostly to herself.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm more of a groupie for the head of the costume department."

"What, Kurt? He's okay I guess. Better fashion sense then he had as a kid at least. Good job too or we would all be wearing pie broaches and gender non-conforming dresses." Without giving Blaine much time to process the information, the woman turns to leave.

"You - you knew Kurt as a kid as well?" 

"Seriously!? Not only have I found the Rachel Berry fan of the cast, he happens to have a crush on Kurt as well."

"Well, I, no, I didn't say that…" Blaine stutters.

The woman stops walking, turning back round to face Blaine, giving him a very obvious once over. 

"You too would look good together," she decides. Blaine doesn't know how to respond to that, but the flush in his cheeks tells this woman everything she needs to know. "Hmm, thought so. Come grab a beer with us tonight and I will make sure I introduce you." 

With that the woman heads off, leaving Blaine clumsily putting the remainder of his stuff into his bag.

Later he gets a text from a name he doesn't recognise.

_ From Sa(n)tan(a): tramp stamp grammies, 9pm, Kurt's cumming ;)  _

The scary bit is, even from the little he knows about this woman, she could be meaning that either way. 


	3. Creed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today I learnt a new word.  
> Still dont really understand what it means so i did it my own way XD
> 
> also, i seem to have an inability to just do a drabble of 100 words or so... so here is over 1k

Blaine is nervous on his way over to the bar. What happens if it's some set up to make him look naive and trusting? What if he gets there before Santana and embarrassingly doesn’t recognise the other cast? What if he embarasses himself in front of Kurt and his new colleagues? 

Thankfully some of his fears are reduced the moment he steps through the door.

“Blaine, you made it!” Santana shouts across the bar from her position on the stage, the karaoke track to Valerie playing, now ignored, in the background. 

Blaine raises his hand in a little wave as Santana resumes the song half way through a line, clearly knowing the song well. 

Blaine lets the door swing shut behind him, watching his new friend sing the final verse to the song in awe. It’s no wonder she got a role in the show with a voice like that!

Once the song finishes Santana beckons him over, directing Blaine to the far corner where he recognises some of his future co-workers and the current cast. 

“Rachel, this is Blaine, also known as poodle. Poodle, this is Berry,” Santana introduces them to each other.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, holding his hand out to shake.

“I’m glad you made it,” she says, ignoring his hand and embracing him in a hug. Blaine goes with it. “I know a lot of the new cast are always apprehensive about coming to events like this, so I’m happy to see you didn’t bail out and come up with some kind of excuse!” 

“And miss out on the opportunity to meet you? You’re joking!” Looking over the girls' shoulder Blaine tries to hunt down Kurt, however he can’t recognise him among the rest of the group. Maybe he was one of those who came up with an excuse; there is often a bit of distance between the stage crew and actors, as much of a shame that is.

“Ooh, Satan, I like him, you picked well!”

“Why thank you,” the sassy lady replies, picking at imaginary lint. “Anyway, I’m only one drink in, I need to catch up with the rest of you. Poodle, what are you drinking? My treat.” 

“Umm..” Blaine stumbles, not sure what level of alcohol is the going rate with the group.

"Marga- no, you strike me as a dry Martini type of guy."

"Not had one before actually, but I will give it a go," Blaine agrees.

"Ooh, you and me are going to have so much fun!" She slips off to the bar.

"So, poodle… what's your actual name again?"

"It's Blaine. Blaine Anderson."

"Oh! Of course you are! Can't believe I didn't recognize you! Wow. You are going to make the best Dr Pomatter. Who's your Jenna?"

"I think her name is Jessica? I will admit I haven't seen her in anything before, but I am looking forwards to working with her, I think she will be amazing at the role." 

"I can't wait to meet her! Did you know I'm the only female principal not leaving the show? Ooh, sorry to interrupt," she says, without giving Blaine a chance to respond, "but that's my cue for the karaoke machine."

She leaves without further comment. Blaine's eyes follow her as she makes her way over to the stage where she joins... the man Blaine was looking for.

The music for Anything Goes starts up as Santana returns with his drink. 

He thanks her before they both sit in comfortable silence, watching the pair on the stage start their performance.

"Why on earth are you behind the scenes when you clearly should be in the spotlight!" Blaine says to Kurt when the pair return to the group after their song. 

"Well, that's a long story," the boy dismisses. 

"I've got time," Blaine replies, shuffling along the bench seat to make room for Kurt and Rachel to slot back in. 

"Okay. Well, I was in highschool. Me and Rach were the biggest of enemies; where else do you think that song originated from?" They both laugh. "We where always in competition with each other really, although that resulted in forming a pretty strong friendship - once we got a few ground rules in place anyway."

"I can imagine," Blaine adds.

"Can't you just. We both wanted to go to NYADA. We both had our struggles, but Rachel was more persistent than me and eventually got a place. I didn't."

"Don't tell me that's the end of the story!"

"Oh no, no it's not. I stayed back home for a while but my heart was pulling me to New York. Rachel was having lots of issues with her hall mates, so we rented a loft together. She was at NYADA, and I applied for a job with Vogue while I waited for the applications to open once again for NYADA. Didn't get the job, although got a Vogue internship, and accepted as late admittance to NYADA. I finished my first year of college, but it was a small-fish big-pond sort of situation. I just didn't fit in. Then Isabelle, my boss at Vogue, offered me a full time job in their design department. I couldn't do both that and school, so after a long time considering, with a lot of factors at play, I picked Vogue."

"Wow! That's a bit of a career change."

"Not as massive as you may think really, I was always big on fashion and had been making and adapting my wardrobe since I was nine."

"I wish I had your talent. I'm sure if you asked my parents they would say the whole reason I went into theatre was so I would have someone else to pick my clothes for me!" The pair laugh.

"Well, Mr Anderson, you are in trusted hands with me, I promise. I'll give you all the tips you need!"

"Well, I have one question already, but it's a rather creepy one…"

"Fire away, although I can't guarantee I won't try to avoid you if it's really weird!"

"What aftershave are you wearing? You smell absolutely fantastic!"

"Ooh, I'm glad you asked. It's a new scent from Creed. They sent me some to test and review. I will pass along your feedback."

From there the conversation flows easily between the two boys. A couple of beers later (Blaine blames Santana for letting him mix his drinks), Blaine and Kurt end up on the stage singing Teenage Dream together. 

So involved in their performance, the pair miss the knowing look between Rachel and Santana.


	4. Date

Blaine’s rehearsals had been going well so far. He was now off script and had learnt the lines to his songs. All he really had left to do was to be taught the - albeit limited for a musical - choreography, and to master the acting when drawing it all together.

He and Jeff are walking towards the theatre district. Jeff has a day off that coincided with one of Blaine’s, so they decided they would go support (and surprise) Nick in his afternoon performance of Rocky Horror. 

“Can you keep a secret?” Jeff asks.

“No. But tell me,” Blaine replies.

“I’m going to ask Nick to marry me soon.” 

“What?! Really? That’s amazing! Oh god, I’m so excited for you!” He says, pushing Jeff’s shoulder enthusiastically.

“Thanks. I was hoping you would be able to help me plan his proposa-”

“Yes! I will do it! What do you have in mind?” Blaine interrupts excitedly.

“I want to do a flash mob of some sort. I don’t know what, or how, or where yet. Or even when. But I know I want to do a flash mob. Any ideas?”

“When does Nick finish his run in Rocky?” Blaine asks, already planning.

“Doesn’t know yet. He is contracted for another six months, so at least that long.”

“What about surprising him at the end of one of his shows, subject to the stage manager and director’s agreement? Let them do the bows, then the music can change, and some of the cast start dancing, leaving Nick a bit confused. Then some more people can come on stage, maybe get some people in the audience dancing as well… you could have an announcement at the beginning of the show and teach them some very basic steps or something.”

“Yes! I love it. I knew you would be able to help.”

“Maybe I can get some of the Waitress cast to come along to completely fill up the stage-” Blaine is interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket.

It isn’t a number he has saved. He shows it to Jeff who struggs, not knowing who it might be. He answers it on the last ring before his voicemail will pick it up.

“Hello?” he answers, stopping walking.

“Hey Blaine, it’s Kurt.” 

“Oh, hey Kurt!” he replies, voice relaxing.

“Hope you don’t mind, I got your number from Santana, it was easier than going through the proper chain of command to get hold of you. I promise I will delete it if it’s an issue,” he says, almost apologetically.

“No no, you’re fine; as long as you don’t mind me saving yours as well,” he jokes.

“No, of course not, please do! Anyway, the reason I was calling. Can you come in for your costume fitting some time soon please? I’ve got all your pieces together now.”

“Sure, when were you thinking?”

“Any time this week.”

“Is it at the theatre?”

“Yes. I’m based on the fourth floor.”

“I’m in the theatre district at the moment, I can be there in twenty minutes or so, although I only have an hour until I need to be elsewhere if you can squeeze me in?”.

“Damn, I’m not at the theatre at the moment, I’m in my studio the other side of town. Umm…”

“I can come back tomorrow? Or come to your studio if that’s easier; I don’t mind traveling.”

“Oh would you, that would be a blessing! I’ve got a lot of deadlines at the moment so the less time spent traveling the better,” Kurt sounds relieved.

“Of course. Besides, I’d love to see where the beginnings of each KHumm fashion line is created!”

“Yes, the very grand... converted studio flat above a pub.”

“Spoil the magic, much? I was picturing unicorns jumping through clouds,” Blaine replies, feigning heartbreak. 

“Sorry to burst your bubble. It does its job though. Beyond the looks, it’s pretty much ideal for what I need, even if I can’t bring prospective buyers here. Anyway, tomorrow, what sort of time?”

“I have rehearsals 7 till 2, so anytime after that?”

“How about we say 4?”

“Excellent, it’s a date.” Blaine flusters, “I mean, not like a date date, but I’ll save a date. No! Not a save the date! I mean-”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Blaine.” Kurt chuckles

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Blaine hangs up.

“Oh god, you fancy him don’t you?” Jeff sighs.

“No no, it’s not like that. Not at all. He is just a lovely guy, I lose my words. I don’t have a crush.”

“Thou protest too much,” Jeff tuts, continuing walking resulting in Blaine being left behind a few steps.

“No, it’s not like that. He just… I like his clothes. I think he is an amazing designer.”

“And way out of your price tag,” Jeff points out, not looking at Blaine.

“Well, yes. And I know the costumes aren’t his design, but it will be nice to wear something I know was fitted by him.

“Someone has a cru-ush,” Jeff sing-songs with a coy smile.

Blaine decides it’s easier to just ignore the teasing. So, he has a bit of an obsession with the guy, and from what he knows about Kurt so far, he is lovely in person as well. That doesn’t mean anything.

“So, you looking forwards to seeing Nick in those gold budgie smugglers?”


	5. Emergency

The night Blaine had been preparing for finally arrives: opening night.

He had been at the theatre since 7am, first blocking everything out on the larger dimensions of the stage compared to the rehearsal room, then going through choreography, before moving onto any notes or slight changes that arose on the last performance with the previous cast. 

After a late-ish lunch, the cast prepare for their first, and only, full costume and tech run of the show.

Thankfully, despite a few teething problems for some of the other cast, Blaine's scenes are able to go without a hitch.

They have a break for the interval, where Blaine - and most of the other cast - make a beeline for the water cooler.

"You are amazing!" Kurt says as Blaine joins him in the audience seats. Over the last few weeks with multiple costume fittings the pair have formed a casual friendship.

"Thanks," Blaine blushes, unsure what else to say.

"No, I'm serious. How have I not heard of your name before?"

"Porcelain, I’ve asked you that question so many times already," Santana interrupts. "Poodle has been in loads of shows, you are probably the only one who hasn't!"

"Hasn't what?" Rachel asks, also joining the small group.

"You're best gay here hasn't heard of Blaine before!"

"Kurt!" Rachel squeals, hitting the man’s arm pretty hard, although Kurt doesn’t flinch. "Have you been living under a rock? Have you sewn your eyelids together? Blaine has been in loads of films, shows and musicals. You have won a Tony haven't you?"

"No, I was only nominated. I was beaten by that Brit. What was his name? James Gordon?"

"James Corden," Santana corrects.

"A nomination, that's nothing to scoff at! What else have you done?" Kurt asks, eyes almost bulging out his head.

"Umm. I've got a few singles and an album out. And I started a band with my brother, although due to time and that we never really got it far off the ground unfortunately, hopefully we will someday.”

“Places everyone!” The director calls, interrupting their conversation.

“That was a short interval,” Santana complains, raising from her seat neverther-the-less.

Blaine follows the two girls out of the row of seats, taking his position backstage for the second act to begin. 

“Wheres Kurt!?” A show runner shouts, ironically running along the corridor not long after the interval of the first show, act one having gone as smoothly as any show can hope to go to the cast’s relief.

“Kurt to floor two urgently,” comes over the tannoy. 

“I think they are after you,” Blaine says over his shoulder to Kurt, sat on the sofa in Blaine’s dressing room. 

“I think they might be,” he replies, slowly standing up. 

“Joe, do you know where Kurt is?” Another runner asks the actor in the opposite dressing room. 

“He’s in here,” Blaine says, sticking his head out of his room. 

The show runner turns round, relief flooding her face.

“Excellent,” she skirts round Blaine in search for Kurt.

“We have a costume emergency! Jenna’s pregnancy apron has had a bit of an accident and all the stuffing is coming out. She’s gone on stage with the first stage apron for now, but she really needs to proper one for her next scene in about six minutes, less than that as it has to be taken on stage early.”

“Ah, damn! Umm, can you meet me in the costume area with it please?”

“Will do,” she runs off to fetch the costume item.

“Fancy finally seeing the theatre’s costume area?” Kurt asks Blaine, seeming to be in no hurry. Blaine is amazed how calm Kurt appears in what seems to be panicking a lot of the other stage crew.

“Sure,” he replies, having had all his costume fittings at Kurt’s studio so far. “I’ve got a couple of scenes before I need to get back to the wings. Show me the way,” Blaine gestures for Kurt to go first, following behind. 


	6. Fist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, if my mind didnt go to a dark deep place with this word. but thats far far too early for this relationship...
> 
> tw for mention of blood (in the form of a cut)

“Hey,” the phone picks up on the first ring.

“Hey Jeff! Hows you?”

“Good, good, yourself?”

“Not too bad. You up to much today?” Blaine asks.

“No, not too much. Nick is at the theatre all day and I’ve got another day off, so just planning on lazing around.”

“Oh, I forgot! How is your foot?” He asks, remembering his friend had trapped a nerve a few days ago.”

“Not as bad today. I think I will be okay to go back to the theatre tomorrow, although perhaps still take it easy on the dancing for a little bit longer.”

“You are a work-aholic, you know that right?” Blaine laughs.

“Yes, but until Nick and I get round to moving in together I’ve still got bills to pay by myself, so…”

“Yes, but don’t you get sick pay?”

“Well, yes, but…” Jeff stutters.

“Anyway, the reason I was calling was to say I’ve got this afternoon free; I wondered if you wanted to meet for lunch? Maybe start planning this proposal of yours to speed up that moving in together.”

“Sure! I’d love to. Do you want to come over and I’ll cook us something?” Jeff invites.

“As long as your leg is up to it?”

“Of course it is,” Jeff chuckles.

“Excellent. I’ll see you in twenty?”

“I’ll start hunting through the freezer then.”

Twenty-five minutes later, a minor delay in finding where he had thrown his house keys last, Blaine arrives at Jeff’s apartment.

“How does chicken pasta sound?" Jeff asks in greeting.

"Sounds lovely."

"Excellent. The chicken still needs another twenty minutes or so, it's not bee in long," Jeff says almost apologetically.

"No worries, I'm getting lunch I've not got to cook, I'm not complaining! Gives us longer to brainstorm," Blaine replies, flopping down on Jeff's couch.

"Make yourself at home," Jeff laughs, sitting on the other two seater. 

"You know I always do," Blaine jokes. "So, how far has the planning gotten?"

"Not very. I've spoken to Nick's stage manager-"

"Well that's more than  _ not very, _ " Blaine interrupts.

"No, because he says I can't do a flash mob on stage."

"Why not!" Blaine whines.

"Health and safety, apparently. Something about fire risks and overcrowding and some other jabble he went into. But he did say he wants to help in whatever way he can, and will help coordinate getting Nick wherever he needs to be without knowing why."

"Well, at least he wasn't to be helpful. Although would be more helpful if he would ignore health and safety," Blaine mutters the last bit to himself, although still loud enough for Jeff to hear him.

"True, but it is what it is. So I'm back to the drawing board," Jeff sighs. 

"Damn, then. I'm stuck now, all my ideas revolved around being on the stage. What about at your theatre?"

"Same issue. And it won't be the same at your show, assuming I could get permission."

"Umm… ummm… we could… could…" Blaine says, flaying around for another idea just as good.

"I know! Maybe me and Nick just sent meant to be," Jeff sighs.

"Look, I know that's not the case. We just need to come up with something else. And it will be even better!"

They still haven't been able to come up with something they love by the time Jeff's timer goes off to put the five-minute pasta on.

"Let's change the topic," Jeff announces as the pair head through to the kitchen. "What's going on in your love life? Any guys you have your eye on?" Blaine laughs.

"I told you, I'm just focusing on work."

"Yeh, but like, you must be keeping an eye out?"

"No, not really. If something happens I'm not going to turn my back, but I'm not searching for a guy."

"Not even that Kurt guy you idealise? You have been spending a lot of time together," Jeff winks.

"Jeff! It's not like that! He was just having a lot of issues with my costume, and then once I was at his studio I would just stay to keep him company," Blaine objects, probably too much.

"Hmm, I'm sure that's the case," Jeff agrees in that way that makes it clear he doesn't, busying himself with slicing the chicken pieces.

"It is! Besides, I didn't say I was against something happening organically…" Blaine blushes. 

Jeff spins around in a way only a dancer can, even in spite of his injury.

"I knew it! I knew i-ouch."

"What did you do?"

"I don't know. It hurt though."

"Jeff! You're bleeding!" Blaine panics, blood dripping from his friends hand.

"Oh, shit!" Jeff exclaims, "That's not good."

"You are a walking disaster! First your foot, now your hand," Blaine jokes.

Jeff clasps his hand in a fist to try and reduce the bleeding. 

Blaine heads to the sink, pulling out the few pots of washing up to clear the basin.

"Here, put your hand under the water," he instructs, Jeff obeying.

"Ahh, the pasta is boiling over…" Jeff says in worry.

"You keep your hand under there for a moment, I'll finish plating up lunch, and then we can find a bandage or something somewhere."

"I've got a first aid kit in the cupboard," Jeff says, turning of the tap to go fetch it.

"Jeff, you are dropping blood!"

"Oops," he says, clenching his fist again.

Blaine finishes their lunch just as Jeff returns.

"Let me help," Blaine instructs, taking the first aid kit.

He opens it to find a couple of bandages at the top, taking one out and removing it from the sterile wrapping.

"Hand," he instructs, Jeff throwing it in the table in front of Blaine. 

Using the knowledge from his first aid course back when he finished high school, Blaine does his best to wrap the large cut.

"It doesn't look too deep," he tells Jeff.

"Good. Do you think I need to get stitches?"

"I don't know, I can't really tell right now. You'll have to redress it later and see how it's looking."

"Thanks," Jeff says as Blaine finishes up the end.

"Do you think you can manage eating without hurting yourself any more?" Blaine jokes.

"Let's see shall we."

And thankfully, Jeff is no more worse for wear when Blaine leaves later on to head over to the theatre. And they even managed to come up with a draft two of Jeff's proposal. 


	7. Ground

"All flights have been grounded until further notice," the news reporter reads.

"No!" Blaine shouts at the radio, as if it will hear him and decide to make an exception to his plane.

With a bit of haggling - okay, a lot of haggling - Blaine has been able to get a few days of work, his understudy taking over for those performances, and had intended to fly home for his birthday. 

However, a silly little tiny-whiny computer glitch has grounded all the planes, including his flight tomorrow. 

"No no no," he complains to himself.

"Whats up?" Joshua, said understudy, pokes his head through Blaine's doorway.

"All flights in and out of New York are grounded until further notice."

"Oh no, that's not good! Does that mean you can't get home now?" 

"Seems that way. Damn, I'd best cancel my plans," Blaine sighs, picking up his phone to text Jeff and cancel his offer of a ride to the airport.

"Oh. Does that mean you are going to be on as Dr Pomatter?"

"What? Oh, no! Not unless you want me to. I promised that you would have these shows, I'm not going to take them off you." Blaine can see the relief on his understudy. 

"Oh, cool, thanks."

"You have your family coming Monday don't you?"

"Yeah, they want to come see me acting, I've not been a lead before."

"There is no way I can take that off you, don't fear!"

"What are you going to do then, if you can't go home?" Joshua asks, seeming genuinely interested. Blaine feels a bit bad; he hasn't paid that much notice to Joshua, too focused on learning his own lines and making it through each performance without catastrophe, but he seems such a lovely lad.

"I don't know. Maybe just enjoy being off. Or maybe I'll come spend some time just hanging out backstage. I'll understudy you," Blaine laughs. 

  
  


Blaine wakes up slowly on Sunday morning, the grounded flights meaning he turned his alarm off.

"Alexa, what's the news?" He says when he comes round enough.

"Some flights into New York are being diverted still due to the technical failure. Most flights out of the airport are now of the ground, although expect delays-"

Blaine doesn't listen to the rest of the news, flying out of bed to fetch his phone.

Turns out, his flight is one of the ones now going!

He checks the time, realising he has twenty minutes before he needs to be at the airport in order to catch it.

And he has to be there in time as with some many other canceled flights, there will be lots of people after any free seats from people not there in time.

He pulls his bag back out from under his bed, almost knocking his lampshade off in the process.

"Damn it damn it damn it!" He chants, throwing in anything he can get his hands on. After the news of the canceled flight he had unpacked most of his bag, but thankfully not all of it.

He runs through to the bathroom while hoping, trying to pull on a pair of pants over his sleep clothes. 

He grabs his toothbrush and paste, ignoring the rest of his wash kit.

He is out the door in six and a half minutes. With ten minutes to the airport, he doesn't have time to delay. 

Thankfully luck seems to be on his side today as he is able to flag down a taxi almost straight away.

While in the short taxi ride, Blaine makes a few phone calls to tell people of his change of plans, before arriving at the check in desk just in time.

The relief doesn't set in until he is finally up in the air, looking down at the ground miles below.


	8. Hiccup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I've caught up again!  
> How long are we betting until i am behind again?
> 
> Also, thanks to everyone who is commenting! For some reason i am not getting notifications about comments on this fic so have only just noticed them!

“And all the flights back to New York where -hic - finally running, so it all went - hic - fine in the end,” Blaine says to Joshua, catching up with the boy after his time how. “How did your - hic - shows go?”

“They went really well, thank you. And thanks for allowing me the performances.”

“No need to - hic - thank me,” he replies.

“Those hiccups are not relenting are they?” Joshua chuckles.

“No, and it’s curtains up in less than five as well.”

“At least you have a few scenes to go before you are on.”

“Boo!” Kurt shouts at Blaine’s door, making Joshua jump.

“He-hic-y Kurt,” Blaine smiles, happy to see the man again after his short time off. He has to say, for someone he hasn’t known for long, Blaine did miss the costume head more than he expected. 

“Damn, I didn’t help.”

“How did you know he had hiccups?” Joshua asks.

“The sound department can hear it down the mics; I’ve just come from there.”

“Oh god, what if it doesn’t stop by the time I go on stage?” Blaine asks mostly to himself, the realisation only really having just hit him. 

“This is your two minute call, your two minute call,” comes the voice over the tannoy, today it’s the stage manager.

“That’s my cue,” Joshua announces, getting up.

“Break a leg,” Kurt and Blaine say in unison as the boy leaves, Blaine hiccuping again at the end.

“Kurt, help me, I’ve forgotten what you are meant to do to stop hiccups,” Blaine pleads, in a half joking half serious way.

“Being scared is meant to be one thing, but apparently that hasn’t helped.”

“You don-hic-’t say,” Blaine laughs.

“Hold your breath?” Blaine tries, but only three seconds in he hiccups. “Keep going,” Kurt encourages. 

However three hiccups later and Blaine is out of breath, no better than he was before. 

“Drink a glass of water upside down?”

“How do people even do that? I’m con-hic-vinced that’s made up to make people look stupi-hic-d.”

“Probably… but it might work?”

“Fi-hic-ne,” Blaine relents, reaching for his drinks bottle. “How do you recommend I do this?”

“Umm, lay on the sofa with your head over the edge?” Blaine shrugs his shoulders, deciding that’s as good a method as any. “Hold on though, I have to film this!”

“What!? Why? - Hic - No! You don’t need to do th-hic-at!” Blaine objects.”

“It’ll be funny for th social media though,” Kurt protests, taking out his phone. 

Blaine decides it’s easier to just ignore Kurt, having learnt by now that once Kurt sets his mind to something, he makes sure it happens one way or another.

How else could the man work full time for a broadway show, and full time running his own fashion business?

“And, action!” Kurt calls. 

Blaine laughs from his up-side-down position, shaking his head with another hiccup.

It takes him a moment to collect himself before he can try to have a drink, spilling half of it down his forehead.

“Make-up are going to kill me for - hic - this,” he chuckles, sitting back up. 

“Nah, I’ll fix it for you,” Kurt says, ending the video clip and putting his phone back in his pocket. “Come here.”

Blaine goes to his seat, Kurt sorting through his make-up collection and collecting up with he needs.

With a very well practiced hand, Kurt makes quick work of fixing his make-up.

Really though, Blaine is just relieved he didn’t get his mic wet by accident, as he definitely would have been told of for that one. 

He hears is cue to leave his dressing room over the radio too soon for his liking, his hiccups still not having stopped. 

He sends a longing look to Kurt as he leaves, almost pleading for some last minute solution. 

“Boo!” Someone shouts as he steps out his dressing room.

“Shit!” Blaine shouts, hand over his chest.

“Did it work?” the stage runner asks.

“How long have you been - hic - stood there?”

“Ah poop, it didn’t. Only a few moments, I know everyone’s cues.”

“That’s an impressive tal-hic-ent.”

“Part of the job, knowing where everyone should be and when. Or more importantly, knowing where they are likely to be if they aren’t where they should be.”

“That sounds a nightmare.” The show runner shrugs. 

“Anyway, good luck with those hiccups.”

“Thanks, I’m going to need it!”

Unfortunately they don’t stop on his way down to the wings, and he has to play his character as though the hiccups are meant to be happening, the other cast trying incredibly hard not to break character and laugh.

In a strange way, it makes the performance fun to do, the audience seeming to enjoy the slight error as well.


	9. Interrupt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two-for-one interruption!

Blaine and Nick leave Jeff's together, heading to their respective theatres for the evening performances of their shows.

"What did you think of the film?" Nick asks, both of them having been over Jeff's for a lazy morning-come-early afternoon.

"I’m going to ask Kurt on a date,” Blaine announces.

“Wait!? What? How-what! Not that I’m against it, but where did this come from?” Nick asks, assounded.

“Well, there has been a lot of love going around rec-”

“Love!” Nick interrupts. 

“Yeah, well the romance bug seems to be about. And that film, about taking your opportunities before they pass. Well, it got me thinking. I don’t know how long I will be in the cast for, or how long Kurt will be working there…”

“Yes…” Nick prompts for more.

“Well, we might only be at the beginning of a friendship, and I don’t really know how we each feel about each other, but I think I have a crush on him. And I don’t want to lose my opportunity. And so what if it might make it awkward between us? It is only the early stages of a friendship anyway, and it wouldn’t be too hard to avoid him at work. So…” Blaine adds to fill an awkward silence. “What do you think?”

“Well, I thought this impulsive side of you had died down a bit after the whole gap fiasco, but it’s nice to see some of the less dapper Blaine back,” Nick replies with a nervous chuckle.

“You know what. I’m going to do it. The moment I have two minutes alone I am going to ask Kurt out.”

Those two minutes don’t arrive until after the interval, Kurt popping his head in during one of Blaine’s scene breaks. 

“Hey,” Kurt greats, walking into Blaine’s open dressing room without knocking.

“Hey yourself. Where have you been hiding today?” Blaine jokes.

“Oh, umm.. I may have been running a bit late,” he says sheepishly.

“And why is that?” Blaine teases.

“My secret client was running a bit late, and I couldn’t really hurry her out the door.”

“Ooh, thats secret woman in your life, spoiling my fun again!” Kurt laughs. “Can you pretty please tell me who it is yet?”

“No, I’m sorry, I told you I can’t. Not until after the premier anyway.”

“Ah ha! She is famous then!” Blaine shouts in triumph, as if he has solved a very complex mystery.

“You know I deal with a lot of famous clientele for custom work.”

“Yeah, I know,” Blaine sighs. “So, how are you?”

“A bit stressed, but better now I am here and can forget about my business for an hour or so. You?”

“Yeah, not bad thank. I’ve been wanting to ask though-” Blaine is interrupted by a relatively soft alarm, accompanied by the tannoy springing to life.

“Apologies for the interruption to this evening’s performance ladies and gentlemen, however a smoke alarm has been triggered. We ask you to please calmly evacuate the building while we investigate the cause of the alarm, thank you.” The message then starts to repeat itself again.

“Oh,” Kurt says, a little surprised by the announcement.

“Where is the fire assembly point for us?” Blaine asks, having not studied this information since moving into the building.

“Oh, just outside the stage door.”

“After you, then,” Blaine gestures, following Kurt down the stairs.

After maybe fifteen minutes outside, a few of the audience members having found their way round to the back to grab stage door photos ahead of everyone else, they are allowed back in the building, the alarm caused by a faulty smoke machine they were trying to fix in the props department. 

Slowly everyone makes their way back inside.

“Apologies for the interruption to tonight's performance, if you please take your seats we will resume tonight's performance.” After a slight crackle another voice comes over the tannoy, this one to the backstage members only. “We will be resuming the show from the beginning of act one, scene two,” they are informed.

“Well, this is different,” Kurt chuckles once they get back to Blaine’s dressing room. 

“I have had it happen once before when I’ve been watching a show,” Blaine comments.

“Tell me more! I’ve not heard of it happening before!”

“It was a touring show on the first night in this venue, and the smoke machines on stage set the alarm off. Safe to say, they dialed the machine down during the following shows.” Kurt laughs, setting Blaine off as well.

“Oh, was there something you wanted to say before the alarms went off?” Kurt asks.

“Umm, yeah… I’ve forgotten what it was though,” Blaine lies, all of his acting skills coming into play.

“Can’t of been that important then,” Kurt jokes.

“No, can’t off been.”  _ No, not important at all. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Blaine.


	10. Joy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song used in this chapter is Joy by planetshakers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoyHjjHTO14&feature=youtu.be)

In credit to Jeff, once he decides on something there is no hanging around in getting started. 

Ten days. It took ten days from planning the proposal to being where they are now, on the street, waiting for Nick to come out the stage door.

It hasn't taken too much planning once the idea was set.

The director of Rocky Horror allowed Jeff to use one of their rehearsal spaces for free, as long as it was at specific times so not to interfere with the show.

Kurt offered to design and make Jeff an outfit for a discount price with the condition that his name is mentioned in the credits of the video, being generously filmed professionally for free by the crew that works with Rachel on her singles. Nick's director agreed to make sure Nick would come out the stage door after today's matinee performance. And the majority of the Waitress cast - due to being on a one show day, - along with some of the understudies and swings in Dear Evan Hanson who could get to Nick's theatre in time, agreed to join in with the flash mob. 

Ten days after the plan was set in motion, they are ready.

Blaine and Jeff, along with about three quarters of the people they have roped in to dance, are currently hidden round the corner of the building, waiting anxiously.

After what seems like ages, and probably feels even longer for Jeff who can't stop pacing, Blaine hears the  [ music ](https://youtu.be/MoyHjjHTO14) start up.

Although he can't see what's happening, he knows that round the corner the first quarter of their flashmob, hidden as members of the public waiting to meet the Rocky Horror cast, are starting their dance routine.

As the second verse starts he hears Santana starting to sing, also hidden in the crowd until this point.

Finally as the third verse starts Blaine steps out from his hiding space to join in with Santana, several more dancers joining in with the flash mob. He spots Nick, who looks incredibly confused.

As soon as Nick sees Blaine his expression relaxes slightly, although the confusion is still there as Blaine sings.

On the forth verse, Jeff finally makes his appearance, parting through the large crowd of dancers to make his way to the front. 

"Jeff, how did I guess this was your doing?" Nick asks, not expecting an answer as Jeff dances.

Blaine can't draw his eyes away from Nick, the look of joy and happiness - along with a little bit of confusion and embarrassment - radiating from him.

Blaine is glad this moment is being filmed, as it will be one to look back on.

As the song draws to an end, Jeff gets down on one knee before Nick.

Blaine can see the exact moment it dawns on Nick that this isn't leading into another dance move.

"Nick, my best friend, my Dalton brother, my partner. You bring me so much Joy. We might have done a lot of dancing around each other when we first met, but from now on I want to only dance with you. I… I had so much more planned to say," Jeff starts to get flustered, "but there is a reason you have the scripts and I do the dancing, and looking at you now I can't remember what those words are, as the only ones that are on my mind are," he pauses, "Nick, will you do the honour of becoming my husband?"

Everyone holds their breath, many of the audience members watching through their phone screens at this unique moment. 

"Yes. Yes I will!" 


	11. Kinship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm embarrassed by how many of these words i seem to be having to google as im not 100% sure on the meaning (or need to see if it might have another meaning as im stuck for ideas)  
> this advent has turned into less of a writing challenge and more of a 'how many words can we teach totallyawesomeharry in a month?" XD

Blaine presses the buzzer to the side of a slightly weather black door.

"Who's there?" A crackly voice answers, distorted by the old speaker.

"Blaine."

"Come on up." Blaine hears the faint click of an electronic lock disengaging. 

Blaine's visit is unexpected, happening to be the right side of the city with a few hours to kill.

He walks up the stairs, knowing his way round the building.

"Hey, Kurt!" He greets when the other boy comes into view, a mouthful of precariously balanced pins. 

The man looks up, the hint of a smile hidden behind the pins, before going back to his work.

Blaine knows by now not to disturb Kurt when he is half way through a task, so takes a seat on his couch to wait, pulling out his phone to check his social media.

Probably ten minutes pass before he feels a slope in the couch, Kurt having sat down next to him.

"Didn't expect to see you here today," Kurt starts.

"Surprise! I was almost walking right past, so thought I would detour and pop over before work. Hope I'm not intruding?" Blaine explains.

"Of course not, you are welcome over anytime. I thought you knew that! What time are you due at the theatre today?"

"Not until six."

"Ooh, so am I today. We can share a cab!"

"You taxi it?" Blaine asks, surprised. What New Yorker doesn't take the subway?

"Yeah. Well, it's too far to walk. And means I have an extra ten minutes here. Plus, the company pays for it."

"Hold on, they pay for your taxi! Now I'm jealous!"

"Well, that's what you get when you are the world's next up and coming fashion icon," Kurt jokes.

"Aren't you just! What are you working on at the moment?"

"Just finished up my last commission."

"Last?"

"Yeah. I go through periods where I have loads of custom work, and other times where I've got nothing. So once this piece is delivered, until I get my next enquiry I will start designing some new pieces to unleash to the public," Kurt explains.

"What do you prefer to do?" 

"I enjoy both. I probably prefer the custom pieces as I get to actually have the fabric between my fingers, whereas the designs for my mass produced lines tend to be outsourced in order to produce as many as are needed."

"Hopefully something will pop up soon for you to do."

"How's your friends wedding planning going?" Kurt asks, changing the conversation.

"Not great. To be honest I'm trying to stay out of it. Nick is being laid back about it, but that's only stressing Jeff out more as apparently ' _ we need to get rings as soon as we can; no none of these suits are good enough; Nick you need to help me pick the colours so I can coordinate the flowers before it's too late!' _ " Blaine mimics.

"Wow, sounds stressful. Have they got a date yet?"

"That's the funniest bit, they haven't!" Blaine laughs, even if it's only to disguise a sigh.

"I can help!" Kurt almost shouts, jumping to sit on the edge of the seat.

"Can you now?" Blaine raises his eye brows in amusement.

"I'll do their suits! And yours as course," he adds.

"Thanks for the offer, but you are probably a bit out of their price range. And couldn't have the best man in a suit better than the Grooms."

"I'll do it at cost! As long as it's ok to work on them in my spare time if something else comes in."

"Really? You'll do this for me?"

"I'd love to! Please let me!" But Blaine doesn't get chance to reply as Kurt is already off to fetch a sketch pad.

"Jeff will be relieved to hear that's one thing of his plate," Blaine says when Kurt returns; with a massive grin he must add.

"I've been meaning to ask. How do you three all know each other?" Kurt says casually, already starting to setch.

"We met at Dalton-"

"You went to Dalton?" Kurt interrupts. "I was at McKinley!"

"No way! You must have only been an hour or so from me!"

"We always ended up competing with your glee club."

"You where in the new directions? Of course you where, I can picture you now!"

"Don't tell me you were a Warbler!" Kurt says in disbelief, his sketching momentarily forgotten.

"The one and only. That's how I met Nick and Jeff. The Warblers were like a kinship. Nick and Jeff are my brother's - although not by blood. We all still keep in touch, but I'm the closest with Nick and Jeff."

"Wow. I was so close to transferring, but my family just couldn't afford it. Such a small world!"

"How different our lives could have been!" They sit in silence for a few moments, contemplating what could have been.

"Do you still have anything to do with your school friends?"

Kurt huffs, leading Blaine to give a questioning look.

"I didn't have any school friends-"

"No, that can't be true! You are fantastic!"

"Well, thanks I guess. I had the glee club, who did stick up for me, but I wasn't massively close to any of them at the time."

"At the time?" Blaine prompts.

"Me, Rachel and Santana all moved to New York. But it's an expensive place to live, as I am sure you are aware." Blaine nods his agreement. "So the three of us all pitched in together to get this loft place. The barest thing imaginable, but God did it turn out to be some of the best memories of my life! To begin with there where lots of arguments between the three of us. But over time we all grew to respect each other, and supported one another through some pretty tough times. We formed our own kind of kinship I guess you could say." They both chuckle.

"I assume you three are still friends now though, seeing as you work on the same show."

"Oh, yes. Who would have thought that fourteen year old Kurt Hummel would now be best friends with Rachel and Santana. But as much as I hated them at school, I don't know what I would do without them now. They are my best friends." Kurt looks at Blaine before deciding to add, "And you are too, of course."

"And you're one of my best friends too," Blaine replies.


	12. Lecture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of this took a while to come up with, and i didnt have as long to write as i hoped, but its a chapter. thats part of the challenge!  
> not how i normally think of cooper post-glee, but thats the way the writing happened. maybe he will be a bit nicer when he isn't tipsy!

Blaine is in his own world as he walks home from work; earphones in, head down, walking briskly in the dark. 

The show had gone fine, really. But that was all it had gone. Kurt wasn’t there as he was caught up with his studio, and Blaine certainly missed his presence backstage. And then his trouser button broke - which isn’t really a big deal, things like that happen all the time which is why they have someone from costume at all the shows - however the person who fixed it did a poor job, meaning it came off while one stage, which was a hassle to cover. Besides that, the show ran smoothly, it just lacked the normal energy for some unknown reason.

So Blaine was really looking forward to getting back to his flat, running a bubble bath, and having a relaxing soak with a glass of wine. 

That is until, head down, he walks into a warm body.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t looking at where I was-” Blaine breaks of mid sentence as he looks up at the figure he bumped into. 

“Smashing to see you too, squirt,” Cooper says with a cheeky smirk. 

“Coop! I… Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Such a warm welcome as always,” he says sarcastically, slinging his arm over Blaine’s shoulders. “I came to see you squirt. I didn’t realise you were out on a one night stand or I would have called ahead!”

“Coop, I was at work,” Blaine says tiredly, unlocking the main door to his block of apartments.

“Ohh, what are you doing out this late? You a hooker? No, you wouldn’t be back this early, not with an ass like yours. Are you a stripp-”

“Coop, are you drunk?” He asks, guiding Cooper up the stairs. 

“Not at all! I just had a little to keep me warm while waiting outside. It’s cold, and apparently you don’t have a doorman! Who doesn’t have a doorman? This stripper job doesn’t pay you much, 

You should move to LA, I could hook you up with a great apartment. One that would know you and me were brothers. People in your apartment don’t know that. I buzzed on all their doors to ask them to let me in-”

“Cooper! You can’t do that!” Blaine interrupts.

“But no. None of them would let me in. Apparently they don’t know who I am,” Cooper continues as if Blaine hadn’t spoken at all. “I’m insulted really, how could you not tell your neighbours that you have a famous brother!”

“You’re not  _ that _ famous-”

“So, you haven’t answered my question. Where were you?”

“I didn’t realise that was a question,” Blaine mutters. He can see Cooper about to say something else, so Blaine continues quickly. “I have a lead role on broadway.”

Cooper stops suddenly, his arm draped over Blaine making him trip on the next step.

“You what?!”

“Cooper, do you never listen to me.”

“Well-”

“No, don’t answer that,” Blaine stops him. “This is my,” he pauses to count, “Fourth run on broadway-”

“You’ve done all that and this is where you live?” 

“And I have been in a few films; two as lead roles, a handful of secondary characters, and a fair portion of extras.”

“And this is still where you live,” Cooper says in distaste as Blaine opens his door.

“Yes, Coop. This is where I live. Unlike you, I don’t spend all my money to make me look rich. This apartment does it’s jo-”

“This apartment is so small.”

“It’s not all about size.”

“It’s clean I guess. But you only have one bedroom,” Cooper ignores him, dumping his coat on the back of the couch as he explores without invitation. 

“I only need one bedr-”

“Really, you could do so much better for yourself. In LA you could have a massive apartment, a pool, several bedrooms, a car-”

“Yes, I know, you may have mentioned it before.” Cooper goes to interrupt once again, but Blaine holds his finger up to hush him. “No, enough of the lectures of you for now. New York is my home Coop. I feel the same things about New York as you do about LA. My home is in New York, my job - which I enjoy - is in New York, all my friends are in New York.”

“Your boyfriend is in New York?” Cooper asks, changing the conversation. It might not be an apology, or even an admission, but Blaine knows Cooper well enough to know its his way of backing down.

“No, no boyfriend.”

“A crush then.”

“Cooper, you are not allowed to come here and interrogate me on my love life.”

“Oooh, you have a crush! Who is it?”

“None of your business,” Blaine defends, going to grab a drink from his kitchen area to hide his blush.

“Well, now you’ve got me all interested,” Cooper says, throwing himself onto Blaine’s couch, spreading over its entire length. “Get me a glass will you?”

“Get me a glass will you what?” Blaine replies in the same way he did as a kid whenever Cooper forgot his manners, not that it had any effect.

“Get me a glass,  _ pleeea-seeeee _ .”

Out of Cooper’s sight, Blaine shakes his head, pulling out a second glass and filling it up with water from the tap, bringing it over to Cooper before sitting in the armchair opposite.

“Well, this is boring-”

“Cooper, you have had enough to drink I think. Besides, I want to head to sleep soon, so I’m not drinking. By the way, are you crashing here or?”

“I was hoping to crash in your spare room, but I guess in here will do. If you lived in LA…”

Blaine manages to survive half an hour of his brother before he decided he had to retire for the night. 

_ Please god, let Kurt be at the theatre tomorrow to vent to. _


	13. Maximum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God did this one stump me, as i knew i wanted another cooper chapter! Hence the delay.  
> so when in doubt go back to what you know, and what i know is maths! (and then a bonus maximum popped up as well)

"Blaine, can you hook me up with a ticket?" Cooper says as greeting, arriving at Blaine's house. Thankfully after the first night on his couch Cooper decided to book a nearby hotel room.

"A ticket for what?" Blaine asks, locking the door behind him as they start walking down the street. Blaine had promised to take Cooper sight seeing while he was in New York, and couldn't put it off any longer with Cooper going back to LA in a few days.

"To come see your show?"

"I thought Broadway was dead?" Blaine asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, someone has to keep it alive."

"And you are going to do that with a free ticket?"

"I try my best," Cooper says with his signature attitude. 

"I wish I could, but unfortunately I've already reached my maximum of tickets."

"Oh, well that's disappointing-"

"You can come backstage though, if you would rather. Hang out with the cast and such."

"Ooh, that sounds fun! I'll do that!"

Surprisingly Blaine enjoyed the day with his brother. Despite having lived in New York since he finished high school, he had never been a tourist. 

When he first moved here he was a broke student and couldn't afford to visit any of the attractions, and by the time he could he had been in the city so long it was just known to him as home so didn't consider himself a tourist to do any of those things.

Eventually they arrive at the theatre, Blaine signing Cooper in as his plus one on arrival, giving him a quick tour of backstage before he was due on stage for the cast warm up.

"Hi Bill," he says as he passss the old man's dressing room.

"Hey Blaine. Have you met my granddaughter, Lucie before?"

"No, I haven't," he says, walking in his cast members room, Cooper behind him. "It's nice to meet you, Lucie," Blaine shakes the teenagers hand.

"It's so nice to meet you!" She gushes. "I'm a big fan!"

"Who's this?" Bill asks, indicating Cooper.

"This is my brother, Cooper. Cooper, this is Bill, who plays old Joe."

"Nice to meet you, Cooper."

"Nice to meet you, too!" Cooper puts on his charming grin.

"OMG, you are Cooper Anderson! Both Anderson brothers together! My friends are going to be so jealous."

"Oh, I can make sure of it if you would like!" 

Blaine thinks the girl might just pass out, but they are interrupted by the tannoy.

"Can all cast please head to the stage for the warm up please. That's all cast to the stage."

"That's us," Bill says. 

"Coop, make yourself at home in my dressing room if you want. I'll be back in a bit."

"I think I might hang out with Lucie, if that's okay with Bill?"

"That fine with me," the man says, much to the relief and amazinment of the teenager.

When Blaine and Bill return from the warm up they are met with a sight Blaine never expected to see.

"And how do we find the maximum?" Cooper asks, sat next to Lucie with a calc textbook open.

"Where d2y over dx2 is greater than zero."

"Close, but the other way round."

"Oh, that's the minimum-"

"Exactly! So the maximum is…"

"Less than zero."

"Exactly

It's times like this where Blaine can forgive his brother's madness.

  
  



	14. Nest

"What are you doing today?" Kurt asks curiously when Blaine answers the phone.

"Moping," Blaine complains.

"Oh," Kurt sounds a little saddened by the response. "Umm, why?"

"I'm ill."

"Oh no! What's wrong?" He replies concerned.

"I'm dyyyyyying!" Blaine whines.

"Oh, are you now?"

"Yup! I'm dead! I'm a zombie talking to you from the grave!"

"Well, Mr zombie. I guess that means you won't be at work tonight."

"No. I've already called in and confirmed my understudy is on." Kurt chuckles at the other end of the line. "Anyway, was there something you wanted?"

"Yes, but that doesn't matter now. But what's your address?" 

"You going to stalk me?"

"Yes." Blaine laughs, but gives Kurt his address anyway.

"Thanks! I've got to go, but I hope you get better soon." Kurt hangs up without a goodbye.

"Weird," Blaine says to the dead line. With a yawn, Blaine throws his phone on the coffee table and snuggles back into his blanket.

He is awoken suddenly by the doorbell.

Blaine reluctantly walks to the speaker, dragging his blanket with him.

"Hello?" He says.

"Hey, it's Kurt! Can I come in?" 

Too confused to work out what Kurt is doing at his doorstep, Blaine replies, "Sure."

He takes the latch of the door so Kurt can let himself in, walking back to the couch and snuggling down again.

A few minutes later there is a knock at his door.

"It open!" He shouts. 

"Hey, zombie," Kurt jokes, making Blaine laugh despite is low mood. 

"Hey, Kurt. This is a surprise."

"Well, you sounded ill, and there is nothing better than my legendary soup when you are ill!" 

Blaine raises his eyebrow in confusion.

"You've made me soup?"

"Yep," Kurt says proudly, already making himself at home and heading to Blaine's small kitchen.

"Kurt, you didn't have to do that!" He says, looking over the back of his couch to watch Kurt.

"I know, that's what makes me so nice!"

"You remind me of Glinda from Wicked."

" _ Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I, and let's face it, who isn't less fortunate that I!" _ Kurt sings - no, Kurt performs!

"That's probably my favourite Wicked song," Blaine says, starting to get up and head to the kitchen area.

"I like it. But defying gravity holds a special place that can't be beaten."

"A story you care to tell?" Blaine asks, curious.

"Oh, nothing that interesting. I just sung it a lot at school. It was the only real diva off song."

"You can sing defying gravity?" Blaine asks in amazement, joining Kurt.

"I don't know why you still doubt my talent Mr!" Kurt teases. "Also, go back to that nice blanket nest you have going on!" He makes a shooing motion with his hands. 

"Yes Sir!" Blaine says with a mock salute, doing as he is told.

It's only a few moments before Kurt joins him, a bowl of warm soup in hand.

"Here," he says, passing it to Blaine beneath his blanket nest.

"Thanks," he sniffs, the warm steam making his nose run slightly. 

"Eat up!" Kurt instructs like a mother hen.

Blaine takes his first spoonful and is blown away by the taste.

"Wow, this is fantastic!" He takes another spoonful

"I'm glad you like it. It's my mother's recipe."

"Well, tell her I say thanks!"

"Oh, umm. She passed away when I was nine."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Blaine says, a bit unsure how to respond.

"It's okay. I'm just happy to be passing along some of her wisdom."

"She would be proud of you, I'm sure of it!" 

"Thanks."

Kurt stays over for a couple of hours, keeping Blaine company and cheering up the grumpy-sick actor. 

"Right, I'd best head of. Let you get some rest and get some work done myself."

"Thanks for coming over," Blaine says, about to get up and walk Kurt to the door.

"No, you stay there!" Kurt stop him. "Or better yet, take your blanket nest to bed and get some rest," he chuckles.

"I will do. And I'm sure, thanks to your soup, I'll be up and running in no time."

"Well, there is some more left in the fridge for you if you are up to it later."

"I don't know what I would do without you!" Blaine laughs.

"I do! You'll be a grumpy old man! Now I don't want to tell you again… take that blanket nest and-"

"Go get some rest. I will, I promise."

As soon as Kurt leaves Blaine does as instructed.

And thanks for Kurt's soup, Blaine is recovered enough to return to the theatre in only a few days. 


	15. Overwhelm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm behind, surprise surprise. but we have to admit, i have done well to make it this far!  
> chapter 16 to follow very very soon, and then hopefully i can get chapter 17 and 18 written and posted tomorrow  
> day 15,16 and 17 really stumped me.

Jeff, Nick and Blaine take their seats in the grand auditorium. 

Technically Jeff should be sat two rows behind with his work colleagues, however he managed to swing it so he could sit with Blaine, Nick between them as Jeff’s plus one.

Both Jeff and Blaine have been nominated for awards at this year’s Tony’s - something not to be scoffed at. 

Several of the Waitress cast and crew are also nominated, including Kurt sat beside him. 

_ Both without a plus one,  _ Blaine’s mind can’t help but point out.

“Who dressed them!” Kurt exclaims in shock.

“Kurt!” Blaine hushes, “Inside voice!”

“Sorry, but just look at them!”

Blaine looks over to where Kurt is pointing, and has to admit it is a… questionable… fashion choice.

“At least you approve of my outfit,” Blaine says, trying to distract his friend.

“Of course, nothing beats a Kurt.H. original! How on earth where you able to get one of those highly sort after suits?” Kurt jokes.

“I happen to know a guy. Maybe if you play your cards right I’ll see if I can hook you up.” They both laugh, the house lights going down as the stage lights up to start the opening number. 

“And now, to present the award for best choreography, please welcome Danni Lovato.”

From down his row, Blaine can hear Sanatana shouting and cheering. The pair might have broken up a few years ago now, but according to Sanatana it was a mutual and civil dissolving of partnership, and they still both support each other in what they each do.

“Hello, everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome! Now, onto the nominees for best choreography in a musical… Carol-Ann Heggaty, for Hello Dolly. Ruth Grant, for Kinky Boots. Jeff Sterling for Dear Evan Hanson…” the final nomination is drowned out by the cheering going on around Blaine.

“And the winner is… Jeff Sterling!” If the cheering was loud before, it is absolutely deafening now!

Blaine watches as his friend makes his way up to the stage, praying he doesn’t do something to embarrass himself.

“Wow, thankyou,” Jeff starts, collecting his award. “Umm, I didn’t actually prepare a speech as I didn’t expect to win, so umm…” he chuckles with nerves. “I want to say thankyou to my cast, for performing my choreography in the best way possible, I wouldn’t be here without you. I want to say thankyou to my fiance, for being my guinea pig and always supporting me. And I want to thank all my friends, especially those at Dalton who without, I never would have considered choreographing a routine. So thank you to the Warblers! And to everyone who has helped me on my journey, thank you!”

The music starts playing as Jeff walks off the stage, returning to his seat. 

Before he sits down he takes Nick in an embrace, the longest kiss ever, only broken by Blaine pulling Nick back into his seat.

Half an hour or so later, it’s Blaine’s turn.

“To present the next award, please welcome last year’s winner, James Corden.” With a round of applause, the Brit takes his position on stage.

“I know all our nominees are relieved to see me up here presenting rather than competing with you, as we all know who would win in that situation,” he jokes. “Now, let's find out who those nominees are shall we?” He turns to the big screen behind, about to flash the first name. “The nominees for Best Lead Actor in a Musical are… Roderic Steve in Bat Out of Hell. Blaine Anderson in Waitress-” like with Jeff, the people around his erupt into applause, missing the next name called. “- and Jeffery Photosmith in 9 to 5… and the winner is Blaine Anderson!”

Time slows down in Blaine’s mind, the words not really registering. He can hear Kurt and Nick congratulating him from either side, but the words don’t register. It takes Jeff pulling his arm to get him out of his seat.

He.. he… he won?

Surely not. What if it wasn’t his name he heard, they got it wrong? That would be so embarassing; getting up when it wasn’t him who won.

However no one stops him as he gets closer to the stage. Blaine pays attention to every single step, determined not to trip.

Thankfully, he survives his journey to the stage. 

“Hey, Umm,” he stutters down the mic, having been given his award. “Umm. I’m a bit overwhelmed, I don’t know what to say. Umm, I want to thank James for winning last year, as he made me work harder to prove myself. And thank you also for not being nominated this year.” That gets a chuckle from the crowd. “Thanks, thanks to everyone who helped me get to where I am today, from the teachers at Dalton, to my friends, and to my fellow cast mates who I couldn’t be here without. I am overwhelmed by all your help, thank you all so much! So, umm, yeah. Thanks?” he lifts the award up slightly with a smile, not sure what else to say. Thankfully the play off music starts, his cue to leave the stage.

Blaine Anderson. Official Tony Winner. 


	16. Part

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said chapter 16 would follow very soon!
> 
> warning for swear words? does that need warning?

“Blaine, do you want to do my puzzle with me?” Joe, in the room opposite Blaine’s, calls across the corridor.

“Sure,” Blaine replies. The show has only just begun, so both principle boys have a little bit of time before they are due on stage. “Give me two… secs….” he says, just finishing putting his costume on. 

He heads through Joe’s open dressing room door without knocking. Despite all the principal cast having their own dressing room, a rare luxury in theatre, it doesn’t make much of a difference as they all leave their doors open, cast and crew walking in and out as they please. 

Between them, Blaine and Joe make a good start on the puzzle in a comfortable silence, interrupted only by the occasional "can you pass that piece please" or "I think that one goes here."

Blaine gets so involved he loses track of what's happening on stage.

"What scene are we on?" He asks Joe, not recognising the lines being said.

"Umm, just before the doctors office-"

"Ah! Crap!" Blaine curses. "That's why I don't recognize it… I'm on in a moment," he says, throwing himself up, knocking some of the puzzle pieces off the table. "Sorry!"

"You go, I'll pick this up," Joe rushes him out the door.

Blaine all but runs down the stairs in order to make it to the wings in time. 

He has just long enough to take a breath before it's his cue.

He finally returns to Joe's dressing room in the interval, having gotten changed into his first costume of act two.

"How's it going?" He asks, in reference to the puzzle.

"I'm sort of done. But I'm missing a part."

"Huh?" Blaine grunts, less than dapper.

"One of the pieces I can't seem to find. I thought I picked up all the parts you knocked off, so who knows where it's gone."

"That's annoying. You can't leave a puzzle unfinished!"

"Sure you can," Joe shrugs.

"I'll draw the missing piece if I have to!"

However before he can hunt down some paper, it's his cue once again.

The next day Blaine gets a phone call from Kurt. 

He probably has some form of contact - be it in person, text, or phone call - Six out of the seven days a week, so doesn't think anything of it.

"Hey," he answers the phone, putting it on speaker while he prepares his lunch.

"Why is there part of a puzzle in your costume?" Kurt says, forgoing a greeting.

"What?"

"There is a puzzle piece stuck on your jumper. I took your costume home to wash, as I do every Sunday, and low and behold there is an extra surprise for me."

"Oh god, I went on stage with that stuck to me yesterday!"

"You're joking!"

"No-"

"Oh please tell me there is a bootleg of that scene online somewhere!"

"Hopefully it was covered by my lab coat."

"Ooh, that's true. So, do you want it back?"

"Can you hide it on Joe's clothes for me?" Blaine asks, giving his best eye flutter down the line. 

"For you? Sure," he laughs.


	17. Quarrel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only 1 day behind again now, rather than three.  
> hope you enjoy

Blaine finds himself back at Tramp Stamp Grammies once again, although this time with a more select group of friends.

Currently Nick and Jeff are singing a flirty duet, Rachel and Santana are bickering about something Blaine lost track of half an hour ago, and him and Kurt are sat comfortably next to each other, enjoying the performance by Blaine's friends.

"Wow, you two are fantastic!" Kurt says when the engaged couple return to the group's booth. "Do you perform?" He asks Nick.

Blaine, Santana, and Rachel all send him a glare.

"Lady face," Santana starts, dropping her arguing for a moment. "For someone so up to date in high school you really are an old man now. Blondie's hot ass is in Rocky Horror."

"Are you really!"

"You helped pick out the outfits for some of the cast for the proposal!" Rachel exclaims in her shrill voice.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know Nick was on the stage."

"He's Rocky, of course," Jeff says proudly.

"I have got to come see this. Blaine, please can we go watch!" Kurt says like an over excited child.

"Hands off, he is my husband to be, get yourself your own man!" Everyone laughs, Blaine in awkwardness as much as anything else.

As the next person starts their karaoke the group shuffle round the booth, Kurt going to get the next round as room is made for Nick and Jeff to sit back down.

"Who's singing next?" Nick asks.

"Rachel or Santana, but they are currently quarreling over who gets to sing Defying Gravity," Blaine explains.

"We are not quarreling. She can sing Defying Gravity. But in that case I will sing don't rain on my parade-"

"You know that is my song!" Rachel interrupts. "That is my legacy. There is an unwritten rule that no one else can sing that song, not when I am around."

"No, thats not a thing. You do not own rights to that song. I can sing whatever song I like. Now, I am letting you have Defying Gravity, you can't claim both…" 

Blaine stops listening to the pair, rolling his eyes at Nick.

"Why don't you sing a duet?" Jeff asks.

"Absolutely not," the girls both say at the same time, before resuming their argument.

Blaine sends a look of despair to Kurt as he returns with drinks.

"What have I walked back into?"

"The defying gravity/rain on my parade argument," Blaine says, having become accustomed to it back stage. 

"Right, I'm going next!" Kurt declares, leaving before the argument gets redirected his way. 

"So, Poodle head," Santana starts, changing the conversation easily. "When are you going to ask Hummel out?"

Blaine chokes on his mouthful of drink.

"Wh-hat?"

"You and Hummel. I'm fed up of watching you both tip toe round each other. So, when are you asking him out?"

"I don't know what you mean," Blaine claims ignorance.

"You clearly have eyes for him, I know he has eyes only on you."

"He said that to you?"

"No, but he doesn't need to." Blaine stumbles for words, unable to form a response. "Come on, grow some balls, gain some courage, and ask him out!"

There is that word again, courage. That word has followed him through most his life, popping up whenever he needs a reminder to take that leap of faith. 

He just needs to find some in order to make that jump.


	18. Reasonable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm catching up, I promise.  
> hopefully i post them in the right order...

"Blaine, you fancy coming over?" Kurt asks upon Blaine answering the phone.

"Sure, everything ok?"

"Yeah," he replies, not convincingly.

"What's up?"

"Nothing major, I just need a distraction."

"Do you want to come round mine? Leave your issues in the studio; assuming it's work related."

"Yeah, it is. That's not a bad idea actually."

"Cool, I'll text you my address."

"Thanks. See you shortly."

"See you in a bit," Blaine replies, hanging up the phone.

He looks around his apartment, horror crossing his face.

Sure, there are no dirty clothes laying around, and he wouldn't think twice about having Nick or Jeff over when it's like this, but Kurt's different.

He spends the time it takes for Kurt to travel over giving the apartment as much as possible for the timeframe he has.

He has just finished washing up when his door buzzer goes.

"Hey," he greets when Kurt has made his way up to to Blaine's apartment.

"Hey. Thanks for inviting me over!"

"Nice to have you over, come on in," he invites, stepping to the side.

Kurt walks through the threshold, looking around at the simplistic but practical apartment.

"You have a really nice place," he says.

"Thanks. I know it's not particularly grand, but it's home."

"No, honestly, I really love it. It has a nice feel. It does feel really homely. If you're not careful I might move in," he jokes.

"Please, make yourself comfortable."

Blaine head over to the couch, Kurt kicking of his shoes and dropping his bag on the floor before joining him.

"Can I rant?"

"Sure-"

"I thought getting out of the studio would work, but I think I need to get it off my chest," Kurt continues, irrespective of Blaine's response. "About eleven months ago I had someone enquire about a custom dress. That's fine, you know, nothing out of the ordinary, that's what I do. So I invite her to the studio to have a chat and take her measurements. She canceled last minute a few times, but it happened that I had deadlines at the time so really it worked in my favour. So she comes down eventually, we talk, I get an idea of what she is after, and I get her measurements before she leaves." Blaine nods along. "Few weeks later k send her a handful of sketches to see what she likes. She gives me positive feedback on them, but says none of them are quite right. She doesn't offer me any tips on what she wants changing, just it's not right. But that's fine you know? A lot of the people I deal with can be divas. So I do a few more sketches, which again she says she isn't completely sure on, can she print them out and have a think over them all." Blaine hums to show he is listening, realising Kurt doesn't really want a response, he just needs someone to listen. "Several - and I mean several - months pass and I hear no more. I emailed her a couple of times to check in, but don't hear anything back. So I write her off as one of those time wasters, and just feel grateful that I now request a deposit for the consolations, so when this sort of thing happens I am still paid for the time I've spent designing and that.

"So anyway, I hear no more for months. This morning. That is to say - two hours ago! - she phoned me saying can she have the bodice of this dress, the shape of this one, the lining of this, and the fabric and pattern of another. So I'm writing this down, trying to work out how those will actually all fit together, as I can't really imagine it, but sure with a bit of time and minor adjustments I could make it work. This is a high rolling client you know, for the price she is paying I will make anything she wants work. Bit then. Then, and this is the killer, she tells me she needs it for next week. Next week Blaine! Do you know what that means!? I have to redesign, sketch, source fabric, make, and adjust all in less than seven day. Not a month, not even a fortnight. But seven days! That's 168 hours! If I don't sleep or eat."

"That's not very long," Blaine agrees.

"At least you understand! She is being so unreasonable! It's not possible. She has had eleven months to make up her mind, why did she leave it so late?!" Kurt throws himself back into the seat in defeat, slumping in a way Blaine has never seen him do before.

"Ok. Let's talk this through. Calm down, think reasonably."

"Reasonable!' Kurt almost shouts. "How can I be responsible!? She has given me an impossible time frame!"

"Okay, how about rational? Is that a better word for it?" Kurt raises his eyebrow in a way that says  _ don't test me. _ "First, have you drawn out what she is asking for?"

"No, because I can't picture it!"

"You haven't got to picture it, you have just got to sketch out what you already have before, but just the sections she wants."

"Have you got any paper?" Kurt sighs.

"Sure. And I must have a pencil laying round here somewhere," Blaine replies, going in search of the tools.

An hour later, with completed sketch in hand, Kurt starts putting his shoes back on at the door.

"Thanks so much," he says in earnest. 

"No worries. Sorry I didn't distract you from it," Blaine replies, leaning against the door frame.

"No, you've helped me sort some of the issue. Which is even better. I've got a sketch, using fabric I know I have already got, minus the netting which is ordered and will arrive tomorrow, thanks to your amazing internet skills."

"That's thanks to college. I got good at googling my essays," he laughs. 

"All I have left to do is actually make the dress. So as long as you can avoid any costume emergencies at the theatre, and the rest of the team can cover so I've not got to come in, I can get this made in the week. Thanks for calming me down."

"Any time! You are more than welcome to come over whenever," he says, feeling like he is pushing the boat out their a bit.

"I might take you up on that," Kurt smiles. "Right, I'd best be off. Thanks ever so much! I'll see you in a week," he says, indicating the folder with his sketch.

"I'll warn everyone not to have a costume crisis in the meantime, or I'll be fixing it."

"And no one wants that," Kurt laughs.

"No. I'll have to teach you some of the basics some time, if my schedule ever let's up."

"I'll hold you to that," Blaine promises.

"I look forward to it," Kurt saying, heading out of the door.

"I'll see you in a week!" 

"It's a date," Kurt jokes, calling back up from the stairs.

Blaine shuts the door, leaning against it.

He doesn't have butterflies from Kurt saying those words.

No, not at all. 

The word date is just a normal word. A joke.

_ Oh how I wish it wasn't. _


	19. Speed

The speed Kurt is able to make an outfit in is impressive. Four days after Kurt came round his in panic, Blaine is round Kurt's as he puts the final touches on the dress he swore he couldn't make at short notice.

"If I had known how fast you could work I would have made you stay and watch a film with me or something," Blaine jokes.

"This is by far the fastest I have ever worked. I think it's pure adrenaline." Kurt's focus is mainly on the beads he is sewing, his tongue slightly sticking out between his lips.

Blaine can't help but notice how cute Kurt looks like this.

_ Get a grip, Anderson! _

Instead he focuses on Kurt hands, going at the speed of light. 

"How on earth do you do this without stabbing yours-" he starts to ask, just as Kurt catches himself with a needle. "-elf."

They both laugh.

"Normally by going slower. But I just want to get these last few beads on as quick as I can…"

Blaine is fascinated by how fast Kurt's hands move, watching in silence as he finishes up the last few.

"Ta da!" Kurt says with a flourish, flicking the dress of the table and holding it up. "What do you think."

"I think you are amazing!" It takes a moment for Blaine to register what he has just said, blush forming on his cheeks. "I mean, I don't know anyone else who could pull of a dress like that in so few days. It's amazing."

"I had a bit of help with the design," he chuckles, getting up to put the dress on its dressmakers dummy. "I'll give Samantha a call to come and try it on tomorrow. Hopefully she is the same size as a year ago so I haven't got to take it in. Or worse, make it bigger!"

"I'm sure that won't be the case," Blaine replies in optimism, standing beside Kurt.

"No, hopefully not. Right, I'm ready. Let me. Just go grab my stuff to lock up and we will go meet the girls," he declares, already disappearing round the corner.

The four of them - him, Kurt, Rachel and Santana - are meeting at a coffee shop round the corner before going to the cinema to watch the movie adaptation of Cats.

Kurt held his promise of a 'date' once he finished the dress, albeit a 'date' as friends to Blaine's disheartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If only i could write a chapter as fast as Kurt can sew


	20. Treat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of times i wrote and re wrote this chapter! we have gone from sweets to stage door meetings to behind the scenes tour, before finally settling on this idea. i hope you enjoy!

Blaine is on his way to the theatre for an early morning additional rehearsal, taking the same route he has travelled for the last however many months, from his house to 42nd street, when a noise catches his attention. 

He stops, trying to work out if what he heard was real, before dismissing it and continuing on his way.

He makes it another few steps before he hears it again, this time for definite.

“Hello?” he asks, as if expecting a response. 

There is another russel of movement, Blaine having to strain to work out where from. 

He looks around, following the sound to a pile of rubbish near the entrance to an alleyway. He heads towards it slowly, so not to startel anything, when he hears another bark coming from underneath a bin bag. 

He carefully lifts the rubbish bag off a cardboard box, reveliving a litter of puppies.

“Oh goodness!” he almost wispears, not quite believing what he is seeing. “Hello, fellas,” he says, slowly lowering his hand into the box for the puppies to sniff. “Aww, you guys are so sweet. What are you doing left out here?” He asks to no one. 

Blaine looks around, almost expecting to see someone to step forward and claim them. Unsurprisingly, no one does. 

“You poor guys. You look starving,” he says back to the box. “What am I meant to do about you?” he mutters to himself, watching as the first brave dog steps towards his hand, sniffing wearily. 

He pulls his bag off his shoulder, careful not to josel his hand in the box and scare the dogs. With one hand he searches through his bag, pulling out and opening his lunch box. 

Today he had happened to pack a few cocktail sausages, which he picks up. 

Breaking them into a few smaller pieces, unsure of the exact age of the abandoned puppies, he offers the dogs some of the sausage. 

The bravest one, the first to sniff his hand, takes the food instantly, all hesitancy left the moment it knew it was being fed.

“Oh you poor guys, you look mis-treated. What am I going to do with you?” he says, sitting down directly on the floor, legs crossed. 

He pulls apart a few more sausages, slowly feeding them to the dogs to make sure all six of them get their fair share.

One in particular catches his attention. Whereas most the dogs are black, this one is a lighter cream colour, with a splotch of brown over one of its ears. It is a lot shyer than the others, backing into one corner, but it looks up at Blaine curiously, as if evaluating friend or foe. 

“Come on splodge, it’s ok,” he encourages the dog. This seems to be enough, as the dog slowly edges forwards to take the piece of meat from Blaine’s fingers. 

While feeding the puppies the last few pieces, Blaine pulls his phone out his pocket, dialing the theatres backstage office.

“Hey, it’s Blaine, is Andrew about?” he asks once the phone is picked up.

“Hold on, I’ll see for you,” the lady at the desk replies, the hold music starting back up. 

“Hello,” a voice says after a few moments of music.

“Hey Andrew, it’s Blaine.”

“Oh, hey!” his voice changes at the recognition of who’s on the phone. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“How important is this mornings rehearsals?” he asks coyly. 

“Relatively… why, Blaine?”

“I’ve stumbled across a box of, what appears to be, abandoned, mistreated puppies. I think I need to take them to a rescue somewhere, but wasn’t sure if that is a good enough excuse to miss rehearsals…” he explains. 

“What about if you bring them here, we go through your bits as fast as possible, then I’ll let you have a break and you can sort them out?”

“Deal! I’ll be there in a bit!”

A few hours later, the dogs having been left on the corner of the stage to enjoy a little private show themselves.

“Did you enjoy that?” He asks the dogs, who all look a little more alert thanks to some food and water. “I bet you did. You could make broadway dogs in the future,” he promises, leaving the stage door. “I’m going to take you to a kennels in the theatre, where they will treat you really well, and then some nice people will come and take you each home to look after you. And they will probably spoil you, as they will be broadway stars themselves. And you will get to go to lots of red carpet events. But you can’t pee on that carpet…”

Blaine continues talking to them most of the way to the centre, unable to take his eyes of the one he has nicknamed Splodge. 

When he reaches the kennels he does feel a tad note of sadness, knowing he is going to be saying goodbye to the puppies. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” the receptionist at the rescue says with a smile.

“Hi. I’ve found these abandoned in the street.”

He puts the box on the counter, the girl standing up to peer in.

“Aww, they are adorable!” she coos, picking up one of the black dogs. “Thanks for bring them in. Could you possibly fill in a form before you go, I just need a bit of information off you please.” 

Blaine nods, taking a clipboard to one of the seats in the waiting area. 

As he fills in the form, he sees Splodge watching him from from over the side of the cardboard box. 

It doesn’t take him long to fill in the form, going to return it as someone else collects the puppies, taking them down the corridor.

Blaine feels his heart being pulled as he see the sad puppy eyes of Splodge looking back at him.

“All done,” he says.

“Thank you ever so much,” the receptionist replies, taking the clipboard back.

“Can I ask, what happens to them now?”

“Of course. We will check them over for any serious health issues and concerns first, then will see if they might be microchipped and try and track down an owner. If we can’t find anyone to come forward we would treat any remaining minor issues and bring them into full health as part of the charity, and then we would look at getting them adopted.”

“I’m glad. They will make some people very happy,” he says, turning to leave. He gets to the door before he stops, turning back to the lady. “If… if no owner comes forwards… could you give me a call please?” he asks

“Of course,” she replies knowingly. 

Three weeks later Blaine gets a call from an unknown number.

“Hello, Blaine Anderson speaking.”

“Hi, it’s Holly from broadway bitches calling. I’m ringing in regards to the puppies you dropped of a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, yes! How are they.”

“They are all doing really well actually. Although we have been unable to trace down an owner. There was a note on file to call you if this was the case...”

Blaine had been unable to stop thinking about the dogs for the past three weeks, wondering how they where doing. His heart starts racing.

“Oh, yes. Umm… does that mean they will be going up for adoption?”

“It does. Are you interested?”

“Yes, please! Please can I adopt Splodge?”

“Splodge?”

“Sorry, the white one, with the brown smudge on its ear.”

“Oh, he is a cheeky chappy now he is a bit better. If you would like to come down for an appointment we can see if we can make it happen.”

Another three weeks later Blaine is walking back from the pound, carrier bag of supplies in one hand, a leash in the other.

And the other end of that leash? Well, it’s none other than the one and only Splodge.

“You are going to be the most spoilt dog ever!”


	21. User

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ive had a busy day, as you can tell XD four chapters today. now im only one prompt behind again!

“Sit,” Kurt instructs in a no nonsense tone. 

“Yes Sir,” Blaine replies, accompanied by a salute. Kurt doesn’t quite understand the full irony of that word. Since getting his dog Blaine is yet to tell anyone about it, unsure how to approach the topic.

_ Oh, by the way, those puppies from a few months ago? Yeah, you remember them? Well, one of them is currently at my house. Yeah, I adopted a dog. Don’t tell anyone though, as I don’t think my contract allows pets. _

Thinking about it, that probably wouldn’t be too bad really… but it’s yet to come up in conversation, so Blaine is yet to tell anyone about Splodge. But on the plus side, training is going along well, the puppy almost having learnt the word sit.

“I am going to start right at the beginning,” Kurt announces, sitting down next to Blaine on the sofa in his studio and passing Blaine a needle and thread. “I have seen so many people struggle with this; tying a knot in the thread,” he says, sticking one end of the thread between his lips to wet it before threading the needle. “What you need to do is grab this other end,” he demonstrates. “And wrap it round the needle several times. Then, being careful not to just unthread the needle, drag the wrapped bits of thread all the way to the end, making a knot in the process. You try.”

Blaine tries, but encounters an issue just in threading the needle. 

He looks up at Kurt with a pout.

“Okay, let's go back one more step shall we?” Kurt smiles. “How to thread the needle.”

“Can’t you just do it for me?”

“Yes, because I am always going to be right next to you when you need to sew something.” Blaine’s face lifts for a moment, still holding the needle and thread out. “No, silly! You need to know how to thread a needle!” Blaine’s face drops. “You need to make sure the thread isn’t fraying at the end, which is why I will wet it slightly. Let me look at yours.” Blaine hands it over. “Now, see how the even smaller threads are unraveling from the main bit, you are never going to be able to thread it like this without a threading tool, which I don’t have. So you need to cut the end to get rid of all the bits that are seperating,” he instructs, handing the thread back to Blaine, along with a pair of scissors off the coffee table. 

Blaine takes the items back, cutting the thread almost in equal halves. Kurt laughs at him, shaking his head.

“I didn’t mean that much, but that's ok, we can work with that for now. Have a go threading it again.”

Blaine does as he is told, this time to some success. 

“What now?” 

“Now, you need to tie a knot at the end.

“So… I wrap this bit around the needle,” he narrates as he does it. “And…. I pull…” he pulls the thread down off the needle, where it goes all the way to the end of the thread and comes off, without having caught in a knot. “Wha…?”

“You wrapped the tread the wrong way. Here…” Kurt explains, moving Blaine’s hands the right way this time.

Now when Blaine pulls the thread, it finishes in a nice knot at the end.

“I did it!” Blaine exclaimed excitedly. 

“Yes, well done, you created a knot,” Kurt says, popping Blaine’s bubble. “Now, how to tack…”

The next few hours progress much the same; Kurt introducing a new aspect of sewing, Blaine doing it completely wrong, and Kurt having to physically move his hand to make Blaine do it properly.

“Kuuurrrrt!” Blaine whines.

“Blaaaaaaaine,” the boy mimics, walking round the corner to come to Blaine’s rescue. 

“Your sewing machine is broken!” he pouts.

“I highly doubt it. What’s the matter?”

“It’s not working!” He exclaims, crossing his arms like a child having a tantrum. 

“Are you sure it’s not the user that’s broken?” he jokes, sitting down on the seat next to Blaine. One he vacated only a few minutes before. 

“Yes, I’m sure. Look.” Blaine puts his foot down on the peddle, the needle moving but not actually sewing the thread.

“It’s just come unthreaded. Can you remember how I showed you to do that?”

“No,” he pouts.

“Come on, I’ll show you again,” he says, standing up behind Blaine and leaning over. “Watch.” He pulls the thread all the way out of the machine, starting again from the beginning. Blaine does as Kurt tells him… sort off.

Rather than watching Kurt’s hands, he can’t draw his eyes away from Kurt’s face, right next to his. The combination of relaxation and concentration Kurt has when he has some form of sewing equipment in his hands is mesmerising. 

“This goes here, then wraps round this little bit. Then under the tension wheel, making sure it clips in, up behind the this needle bit, back down and under this clip, then through the needle, front to back on this machine. Got it?” he asks, turning to look at Blaine. 

Blaine doesn’t reply, prompting Kurt to ask again.

“Earth to Blaine, do you register?”

Blaine doesn’t know what makes him make the decision, but he leans forwards, lips to lips with Kurt.

Time slows down. At first Kurt appears shocked, stationary against him, before seeming to relax into it, kissing Blaine back. 

“I’m… I’m…” Blaine comes back to himself, realising what he has just done. “I’m so sorry,” he apologizes, backing away fast. “I… I had best be going.” He shoots up, almost knocking the chair over in the process. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

Blaine almost runs out of Kurt’s studio, embarrassed by himself. How would he have felt if someone did that to him?

“Blaine, wait! Don’t g-” But Blaine doesn’t hear him, already out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh....


	22. Verdict

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back up to date. Didn't think I would get this written today, so bonus!

Blaine has only been home ten minutes when his door buzzer goes off.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Blaine, it’s Kurt. Can I come up please?”

“Sure,” Blaine replies, letting him in. 

As soon as he takes his thumb of the tannoy his heart starts racing. He was hoping to avoid Kurt for a little while longer to get his thoughts together.

He is still stood at the door when he hears a fait knock.

He takes a deep breath before answering, Splodge at his feet doing his best to ward of this strange intruder.

“Shhh. Hi, Kurt,” he says, first to the dog, then to Kurt once he has opened the door.

“Oh my Gaga, you have a puppy!” he exclaims, kneeling down to stroke the labrador-cross-something rescue pup. 

“Yeah, this is Splodge.”

“Awww, Splodge!” Kurt says with his best puppy dog expression, giving the dog lots of attention. “You are adorable, oh yes you are! How long have you had a dog for?” Kurt asks, standing up and stepping over the puppy to enter Blaine’s apartment.

Having decided Kurt is a friend not foe, Splodge runs off to get one of his toys, running round the apartment with it between his teeth like a mad animal.

“Not that long. A few weeks maybe.”

“Is he one of the ones you bought to rehearsal a month or two ago?” 

“You know about that?”

“Word gets around Blaine, you know how gossipy Sanatna and Rachel are!”

“That’s true, I shouldn’t be surprised. And yes, he is one of them. No owner came forward so they went up for adoption, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this little terror,” he says, indicating the puppy as he runs into a chair, too busy throwing his toy around to watch where he is going. “He has really come out of his shell since I first saw him.”

“I can see that,” Kurt laughs, before his tone turns more serious. “Umm, so about earlier.” 

“I’m really sorry, Kurt. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I’m sorry I took you by surprise. I promise I won’t let it change anything between us.”

“Oh, um… Do you regret it?” Kurt asks, taking Blaine by surprise.

“What? Of course I do. I shouldn’t spring something on someone like that.”

“No, I mean… do you not want things to change between us?”

“Of course not, Kurt. you are my best friend, I don’t want to lose that!”

“But… what if you didn’t have to lose that?” Kurt asks, uncertain.

“What are you suggesting?” 

“What if I told you I liked it? Then would you regret having… kissed me?”

“A bit, as I shouldn’t have done something like that. I should.. Have… I don’t know. But you don’t go kissing people who haven’t asked for it.”

“Let’s... stop skirting round the issue here. What I’m asking is, why did you kiss me? Is it because you like me?”

“Yes Kurt, I like you. I liked you before I even knew you, and the closer friends we became, the harder it became to not kiss you. I’m sorry,” Blaine says honestly.

“Blaine. I like you too…”

“You do!?” he replies, surprised.

“Of course I do! The first time I saw you I was like, woah, he’s hot! Then as I got to know you I learnt that you are so much more than just that. You are caring, you are kind, you are funny. You are an amazing actor and an amazing friend, and on top of that, you are still pretty hot, despite your goofy-ness!” he laughs.

“What are you saying, Kurt?”

“I’m saying, if you would like to… I’d like you to kiss me again.”

Blaine doesn’t reply. Instead he steps forwards, leaning in to kiss Kurt once again.

This time there is no shocked stillness like before. His hesitancy quickly disappears as Kurt deepens the kiss, pulling Blaine in closer. 

They stay like that until Blaine needs to come up for breath. 

“So… what’s the verdict? Does this change things between us?” Blaine asks, still standing close enough to share the same air as Kurt.

“I think it might,” Kurt replies breathlessly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last!!! (because i totally didn't plan to leave this until the last few chapters from the beginning.... nope, totally not)


	23. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If only this prompt was yesterday's, i could have had so much fun with a bit of angst after chapter 21 XD   
> (but on the other hand, i probably never would have gotten round to writing it so, silver clouds and all)

They spend the remainder of the afternoon lounging around, Splodge jumping around their laps as they sit on the couch together, making up for all that time lost by tip-toeing around each other. 

Blaine is sad when they time comes for them to leave, both needing to make their way to the theatre district. 

Blaine settles Splodge in for the evening while Kurt clears up their plates from a late lunch. 

“Ready?” Blaine asks when they meet back at the door.

“Ready,” Kurt confirms, opening the door and holding it for Blaine to go first. 

Once they have made it to the bottom of the stairs, Kurt holds his hand out for Blaine to take, which he does after a moment's hesitation. 

“So… umm.. What are we?” he asks, daring to bring up the hard question. “If someone was to ask, that is.”

“I’m not really sure,” Kurt admits. “It’s too early for the word boyfriends, I’m sorry,” he apologizes.

“Don’t be sorry; I agree. I’m not there yet either. How about dating?”

“I like that. So if someone asks, we are dating.” Kurt pauses. “Oh my, I’m dating Blaine Anderson!” he says loudly, the people nearby turning to stare. 

“And I’m dating my long term crush,” Blaine adds.

“Long term crush? How long have you following me?”

“Too long to want to admit.”

“Oh, you have to tell me now!” Kurt whines.

“Got to leave some surprises,” Blaine laughs. 

“Fine!”

The easy to-ing and fro-ing continues all the way to the Waitress stage door, where it becomes slightly awkward for the first time since the kiss. 

“Are we... are we going to tell the cast and crew?” Kurt asks.

“I’m not sure… isn’t there normally some clause about staff not being allowed to date each other in most contracts?”

“Sometimes, but I didn’t notice it in ours. And if it is an issue, I can always go full time with my fashion line. I’ve got enough of a name now I should be able to make it.”

“No, that’s not fair, to make you do that.”

“I’m sure that won’t be an issue…” Kurt can see Blaine still hesitating. “You look a bit reluctant. What’s the issue?”

“I just… I’m worried what they might think.”

“Think about what?”

“Us? I don’t know. I’m just… just a bit worried about it.”

“Do you, do you want to keep us quiet? Until we know exactly where we stand with each other?” 

“No.” Blaine says with finality after a moment to think about it. “No, I don’t want to hide this. I’m not sure we could even if I did. We should tell them, as long as you….” he trails off, unsure how to finish.

“No, I agree. I want to tell everyone. I don’t want to have to keep us a secret.”

With a deep breath, they open the stage door, still holding hands.

Blaine shouldn’t have worried about their friends reactions however, as they are all supportive of the union.

“Who said nine months?” Sanatana shouts to the gathered crowd of cast and crew at their pre-show warmup and pep talk. 

“I said eight!” One of the chorus actors replies.

“I have ten,” a band member adds.

“Did anyone say nine?” Sanatana asks on her tiptoes. When she gets no reply she continues. “Alright, we’ll split the bets between you two.”

“You… you bet on us?” Kurt squeals. 

“It was so obviously going to happen, we thought we would make it interesting!” Sanatana explains.

“Yeah, thanks you two. I was out the competition four months ago. You couldn’t have gotten together sooner, could you?” Rachel exclaims.

Blaine and Kurt are left speechless. At least his worry about their ‘relationship’ not being accepted have dissipated. 


	24. Yearn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hold on; stop the press. Did i just actually complete a challenge? Go me!!!

Blaine steps out on stage for one final time, his closing night finally upon him.

He bows to a loud applause, many of the audience knowing it's his last curtain call.

He steps back into the line to allow his next cast member to take their bow, clapping and dancing half in character half as himself. 

Once the bows are finished and the final song draws to a close Blaine steps forwards to join Rachel and Santana, who are also leaving after tonight's performance.

“Some of you may not know,” Joshua, the understudy for Dr Pomatter steps forwards to join the other three. “But this is the final performance for some of our cast here. So; Rachel, Sanatana, and Blaine, thank you ever so much for what you have bought to this show.”

A cheer erupts from the audience once again, as a couple of the chorus cast bring some flowers on stage, handing them each a bouquet and a bottle of wine in a gift bag. 

“Rachel; you are the longest running cast member of the group, and correct me if I’m wrong but I think you are also the longest running Jenna as well.” Another cheer. “Sanatana, you bring the fire to the cast. Nothing ever gets by you, and we are going to miss you dearly,” the audience claps. “And Blaine. Well, I’m glad you are going as it means I get to play a principal role every night, not just if you are ill,” everyone laughs. “But seriously, we are going to miss your enthusiasm. From all of us here, and I’m sure the audience will agree, we wish you the best in your next ventures!” At this there is a loud cheer, a lot of the audience standing up to clap. 

Later that evening, the stage door greetings having taken longer than normal due to the amount of people wanting to meet and take photos with the cast, especially the three that are leaving, and a quick trip home to shower and change, Blaine arrives back at Tramp Stamp Grammies.

He walks in with a confidence he didn’t have the first time he came to this bar, those many months ago when he first joined the cast.

However, walking through the door this time feels bittersweet. Inside is the majority of the cast and crew from Waitress, here to celebrate the final night for the three cast members leaving. This very well could be the last time he comes to this bar, the last time he sees some of his beloved colleagues. 

He’ll keep in touch with most of them via social media, but as harsh as it sounds, often these sort of friendships drift apart as time moves on.

Some of them however, he knows he will see again.

“Hey Kurt,” he greats as he reaches the table, sliding in next to him and giving him a light kiss. 

“Whoop whoop!” Cheers several of the people in their group. Blaine isn’t surprised to notice some half emptied glasses at the table. 

“Congratulations on tonight!” Kurt says, ignoring the shouts around them. Most of the group have gone back to their own conversations at this point anyway.

“Thank you. I was convinced I would muck up some way tonight,”

“I knew you wouldn’t. You’re a professional.”

“Wouldn’t go that far,”

“I would, Mr Tony Winner,” Kurt teases. “So, when do you start filming?”

“A week on friday.”

“Not too bad then, you have a bit of a rest.”

“What did you say you were off to do?” Joe asks. 

“I’m doing a series for Netflix. I can’t say anymore about it at the moment though.”

“Tease!” Joe complains. “What about you Kurt? I hear you are off as well. Anywhere nice?”

“Still staying in New York. But since my internship at Vogue I have always yearned to work on my own fashion line, full time. And with Blaine leaving the show I decided now is as good a time as any. I’ve got my client base it’s worth the risk, so it was time to take it.”

“I wish you both the best of luck,” Joe congratulates.

“I want to make a toast,” Sanatana says, standing up to gain everyone’s attention. “I want to thank everyone I’ve worked with for the last year for being so fantastic, putting out an amazing show eight times a week, fifty-one weeks of the year. I wish you all the best for the future, whatever the next chapter in our journeys bring.”

“To the next chapter!” Everyone chorus’s, raising their glasses. 

Blaine has no idea as to what the next chapter in his journey will entail, but looking to the person besides him, he just knows it will contain Kurt.

He is distracted from thinking about it however, as his name is called to go next on the karaoke. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for coming along with me on this journey. I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as i enjoyed writing it :)


End file.
